


Leave the World Outside

by JangJaeYul



Series: Everything We Are [3]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Ballet, Bee Gees, Coda, M/M, another snapshot of happily ever after, gestures at barry gibb, sir that's my emotional support bee gee, that's right i'm back on my bee gees bullshit, yixing's emotional support bee gee too, you didn't really think i could write any part of this au without them did you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29172147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JangJaeYul/pseuds/JangJaeYul
Summary: The music faded there, echoing off into an infinite repeat of the theme. Baekhyun held that line until he could no longer hear the lyrics over his own breath, then let his hand fall to Yixing’s waist.“Well,” he said, “I think that’s some pretty decent choreography.”
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Series: Everything We Are [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1283801
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	Leave the World Outside

**Author's Note:**

> me: i'm so glad i have the ability to finish things and leave them alone  
> me:  
> ballet baekxing:  
> me, softly: _fuck_
> 
> This scene popped into my head towards the end of December and wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. Enjoy!

  


_1997_

  


“Baekkie.”

“Mm?”

“Need ya help.”

Baekhyun pushed the list of roles into the growing pile of clutter on his desk and looked up. “Sure. What’s up?”

Yixing, leaning against the doorframe, nodded back over his shoulder. “I been choreographing all morning.”

“I can tell.” Rarely did Yixing get this sweaty this early in the day; the hair stuck to his forehead meant at least three hours spent on a particularly frustrating sequence.

“I can’t figure out what’s gotta come next. Come give me an eye?”

“Of course.” Baekhyun kicked his chair back into the radiator, then stood and stretched up towards the ceiling. “Thank you for the excuse to get off my butt.”

Yixing frowned as he stepped back to let Baekhyun through the door. “You ain’t moved this whole morning?”

“I got more coffee at ten, does that count?”

“No! Baby, your butt gonna get chair-shaped.”

“I’ll just have to let you reshape it for me, then.” He threw a grin over his shoulder as he pushed open the practice room door, and caught the tail end of Yixing’s eyeroll.

As Yixing zipped his hoodie off, Baekhyun folded himself into a flat butterfly against the mirrors. “Okay, show me what you got.”

Yixing hit play on the stereo and stepped back to the centre of the room as the CD whirred to life.

For a breath, the studio was still. Then, in a gentle crescendo of cymbals, Yixing unfolded into a _rond de jambe à terre_ that quickly became _en l’air_ , then _attitude_ , then a _pirouette_ , all in one smooth motion. It was the most graceful spiral, a fluid movement that took Yixing from preparatory fifth position to a beautiful _developpé_ in the space of three counts. He looked soft, vulnerable, even as the beat kicked in beneath the music and an _echappé_ took him backwards into a quick sequence of spins and _pas de bourrée_.

This was a traditional _pas de deux_ \- Baekhyun remembered divvying up the programme, remembered Yixing deciding to work on this one next - but so far he couldn’t tell which part Yixing was dancing. Initially he’d assumed it was the female part, mentally slotting some pointework into that first sequence, but now it seemed only natural to visualise a ballerina at his shoulder, _arabesque_ , _pirouette_ , _developpé_ across as Yixing turned to sweep past her.

This. This was the quality that Baekhyun had always found stunning in Yixing’s dancing, the thing that had held him a captive audience since their very first summer. Yixing danced without regard for the petty designations of gender; he moved, and art followed him. It set him out of step with many of the classical ballets, always had, and it was part of the reason Baekhyun had pushed so hard for an original, more modern programme this year. If the show was theirs, if the content and the choreography and the roles were theirs, then who was to say what was out of place? Let the rules bend. These lines were theirs to blur.

Yixing spun to a halt, pausing halfway into a _chaseé_ as the music came back with renewed force. He stood there for half a measure, then crossed to the stereo and hit pause.

“What you think? I got stuck there, couldn’t figure out where to go without just repeating.”

Baekhyun pushed himself off the floor. “I think it’s absolutely stunning. I _love_ that bit right as the music turns. Show me the part in the middle again, with the _fouettés_?”

Yixing nodded and stepped through it, _glissade_ , _jeté_ , _fouetté_ , _fouetté_ , _fouetté_ -

“There,” Baekhyun said. “What does it look like if instead of the third _fouetté_ , _pirouette_ , etc, you go from the second _fouetté_ into a Baryshnikov?”

Yixing tilted his head, considering it. “Mmm, then just more Baryshnikovs until next _cabriole_?”

“Sure, I guess! I dunno, try it and see.”

Yixing nodded, then rewound the CD and began again. _Glissade_ , _jeté_ , _fouetté_ , _fouetté_ , and then a string of Baryshnikovs that took him around the edge of the studio until- instead of a _cabriole_ , Yixing finished his last Baryshnikov with a running step that sent him into a soaring _jeté entrelacé_ , arms and face triumphantly raised to the sky.

“Yes!” Baekhyun cried. “Yes, that, that’s perfect!”

“Yes!” Yixing echoed, pivoting straight into a series of _soutenu_ turns that brought him back past Baekhyun. “Good, perfect, Baekkie always know what to do!” Grabbing Baekhyun’s hand, he pulled him into a waltz hold so that they were spinning together across the floor. “Don’t know why I ever try to choreograph alone, always better with you.”

“Everything’s better with me,” Baekhyun laughed, then squeaked as Yixing fitted a hand to his waist and guided him into a jump, the pair of them gliding across the studio in so shameless a deviation from the planned choreography that Baekhyun almost protested at such a distraction before they’d solidified the perfect sequence they’d just landed on.

Almost.

There was a very good reason why the two of them had stayed with the Seattle Ballet for so long, and why every time they’d tried other companies they’d just ended up coming back at the earliest opportunity. American Ballet Theater had been an incredible opportunity for Yixing, and Baekhyun had enjoyed his season in Houston immensely, but ultimately they’d come to the conclusion that their best dancing was done together. It made no sense to try and mould themselves into something palatable to the wider world of ballet when there was already a company, a community, that would love them just the way they were.

It was this, this blend of styles, this fluency in the way each other’s bodies moved - the way Yixing could take Baekhyun’s _sauté arabesque_ and practically throw him, send him spinning through the air - this was the intangible quality that had set them apart their entire careers at the Seattle Ballet. Even now, with Yixing creeping up on forty and Baekhyun already the other side of it, they were still discovering new ways to adapt the art, pushing boundaries and drawing unconventional dynamics into the fabric of every performance.

Perhaps that had been why, when he’d finally had to accept retirement, Thomas had made it so clear to the Board who he wanted to take the reins and run with them.

In the stained-glass sun, Yixing was whipping a last _fouetté_ into a string of _pirouettes_ \- the same sequence he’d had planned earlier, but now better matched to the arc of the music. Baekhyun swooped in to catch him under that working leg, carried him back the length of the room, then guided him through an _arabesque_ that pivoted, dipped, until Yixing’s fingers brushed the floor and rose to meet Baekhyun’s hand tracing the line of his extended arm.

The music faded there, echoing off into an infinite repeat of the theme. Baekhyun held that line until he could no longer hear the lyrics over his own breath, then let his hand fall to Yixing’s waist.

“Well,” he said, “I think that’s some pretty decent choreography.”

“Agree.”

Baekhyun snorted fondly, then cocked his head as the music changed. “Hey, this isn’t the next track. Did you put the album on shuffle?”

Yixing shook his head. “Not the album. I made my own CD.” So saying, he placed one hand over Baekhyun’s on his waist and leaned into a _tombé_ , pulling them forward into a _pas de bourrée_ in something approaching a reverse waltz hold.

“Oh yeah, like a mixtape?” Baekhyun grinned and, as Yixing spun to face him, brought their hands together between their chests. “What else is on there?”

“Hmm.” Yixing lifted just slightly and as one they tossed their hands into the air, spring blossoms in the breeze. “Starts with _Alone_.”

Baekhyun let Yixing’s hands fall first, allowing his own to drift on a falsetto wind as Yixing caught him by the waist and lifted him once, twice, _retiré_ , _arabesque_ , working foot tucked into half a _pirouette_ so that Yixing could glide him backwards across the floor. 

“Solid choice.”

“Then,” Yixing set him back upright and took that foot to _développé_ it above his head, “ _Too Much Heaven_.”

“Aww, that’s our song!”

“Mhm.” 

Baekhyun could hear the smile in his voice without needing to look. With a sharp pivot, he dipped into a low _penché_ , his working leg still supported by Yixing’s hand so that the perfect split remained as his body fell from high to low. “And then what?”

Yixing scooped his other hand under Baekhyun’s waist and lifted him into his arms, almost a fish dive save for the fact that Baekhyun’s upper leg hooked neatly over his shoulder. “Then, _One_.”

“Yeah?” With a boost and a twist, Baekhyun was sitting on Yixing’s shoulder. He let one arm drift to the horizon, waiting for the shift of balance beneath him.

“Next, _Secret Love_.” There it was - Yixing tumbled him down, a proper fish dive this time.

“I’m never sure whether that one makes me happy or sad.” Upright again, Baekhyun took Yixing’s hand and led him back to the centre of the floor, then used that momentum to lift Yixing’s _sauté_ over his head.

“It’s a happy way now.”

“Mmm.” The _sauté_ landed _cou-de-pied_ , and Baekhyun counted the _fouettés_ before Yixing had even prepared for them - three, then an expansive Baryshnikov boosted all the way to the other side of his body. “What else?”

Yixing pulled him into a close waltz hold. “ _How Deep Is Your Love_.”

“A classic.” Baekhyun hid his smile in Yixing’s shoulder as they glided in a circle around towards the windows.

“Then,” Yixing balanced his arabesque, “ _Miracles Happen_.”

“Oh, you’ve really got an emotional storyline going on here.” Working leg sweeping through into a _développé_ , Baekhyun let Yixing tip him backwards onto one supporting arm. “This could be the score to a ballet.”

“Don’t give me idea, Baekkie, you know I’ll make it happen.”

Baekhyun found himself laughing as his foot swept over Yixing’s head. “Yes, I know you will, and if you haven’t worked out by now that I give you the ideas I most want to see you manifest-”

“Oh I know, I know, I worked that one out all the way in 1982.” Before that foot could touch the ground, Yixing nudged at Baekhyun’s waist to send him into a _pirouette_. “You think I don’t notice? You big ideas man, tell all the good ones to me, all the bad ones to J.D. Lemme tell you, his kids done some _embarrassing_ shows cause of you.”

“Look,” _développé_ again, this time coming to rest on Yixing’s shoulder, “it’s all good experience-”

Yixing dipped him backwards in a quick circle. “You just lucky J.D. didn’t have camcorder back then or there would be _evidence_ -”

He broke off with a yelp as Baekhyun, hiccuping with laughter, lost his balance and almost fell to the floor.

“You've made your point!” Baekhyun hauled himself upright with one helping hand and clung to Yixing’s shoulders. “Oh my god, why do you have to eviscerate me like this-”

“Don’t use your big words with me, you know I don’t speak any English.”

Baekhyun, still chortling, shook his head, his forehead resting on Yixing’s shoulder so that his nose brushed back and forth against his shirt. “You’re terrible. Okay, what else have you got on your mixtape?”

“ _I Will_ , you just heard,” Yixing said, hands coming to rest at Baekhyun’s waist. “Listen to that song makes me wanna just move, I been wanting to choreograph to it for _aaages_.”

“Mm.” Baekhyun let his smile spread like the warmth from Yixing’s palms up his spine. “There’s a lot of feeling in it.”

“Right, exactly. And then…” Yixing nodded towards the track playing from the stereo.

“ _I Could Not Love You More_ ,” Baekhyun murmured.

“I could not love _you_ more,” Yixing replied.

“Oh, you think you’re clever!” Baekhyun’s head snapped upright, eyebrows shooting towards his hair as they came face to face. “You set me up for that one.”

Yixing just shrugged, face relaxed save for the tell-tale crinkle at his eyes. “You asked what songs.”

“Smooth.” Baekhyun lifted one hand to Yixing’s cheek and kissed him, soft and sunlit as the CD whirred to rest.

“Hmm.” Yixing’s smile lasted only a moment before getting lost between Baekhyun’s lips. “Mm. Hey, Baekkie.” It took both hands on his cheeks to put a breath of space between them. “You had lunch?”

Baekhyun shook his head. “I’ve just been working all morning.”

“Me too. So hungry. Wanna grab lunch before we gotta teach afternoon classes?”

“Sure.” Baekhyun stepped back and let Yixing grab his hoodie from the floor, then took his hand as they left the practice room. 

It wasn’t until they were down the block and round the corner that it occurred to Baekhyun that he hadn’t mentioned what he wanted for lunch; yet here they were, outside the sandwich shop where everything smelled like baking bread and the barista poured a picture in the foam of every latte.

_How did you know,_ he thought, and in the same breath felt the steady warmth renew in his chest - Yixing _always_ knew.

When they were halfway back to the studio, sandwiches swinging in a paper bag from one wrist, coffees warming their hands, Yixing hooked his free arm through Baekhyun’s elbow and drew him close.

“So, what you been working on this morning that kept you on your butt?” 

“I’ve been trying to cast the damn summer show,” Baekhyun sighed. He sniffed at the steam of his coffee, but decided it was still too hot to risk a sip. “I’m gonna have to give one of the girls an extra dance, and it just feels unfair when there are so many boys competing for a sniff at a _pas de deux_.”

“We do got a lotta boys this year,” Yixing mused. “Hey, give them this one.”

“Huh?” Baekhyun shot him a sideways glance. “What one?”

“The one we just been dancing for half an hour. Put two boys on it, one hundred percent they bring the house down.”

“Hm.” Baekhyun considered it for a moment, then grinned. “And you say _I’m_ the ideas man.”

“Oh no no. I just let you _think_ they’re your ideas.”

Baekhyun doubled over, one hand clutching at Yixing’s arm as the other tried desperately to keep his cup upright.

“Hey now, not _that_ funny.”

With an irrepressible chortle, Baekhyun straightened up and pressed a kiss into Yixing’s lips. “No, no, you’re hilarious. You’re also completely right, and I know exactly which boys we want dancing it. You want to use the actual Bee Gees track? Can we afford that?”

Yixing shrugged. “Sehunnie told me he can get us copyrights.”

“Of course he can.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “You know, he’s _wasted_ as a human rights lawyer. Not that he’s not good at it, but. He could make a killing as a corporate attorney.”

“Human right gives him… what did he call it? Starts with cl-”

“Clout,” Baekhyun snorted. “Yes, and he’s right, and it’s sickening.”

Yixing made a small noise of agreement, and for a minute they walked in silence. Then he tapped his thumb against the back of Baekhyun’s hand.

“Oh hey, I had a thought. We got a lotta dances to choreograph.”

“So many,” Baekhyun agreed.

“Let’s ask Minseok for guest choreography!”

Baekhyun turned to look at him. “Yeah? You think?”

“He one hundred percent gonna do it if we ask.”

“He probably would! What time is it in New York? I’ll give him a call before class starts.”

“Tell him he can put two ballerinas together in _pas de deux_ , make his head explode from pointework.”

Baekhyun laughed and pulled on Yixing’s hand, stopping them just short of the corner so he could grab Yixing by the collar of his shirt and drag him behind the shelter of a pillar and into a kiss.

It still felt reckless, holding hands and kissing in public like this - maybe it always would. But Baekhyun had decided long ago that if anything warranted reckless courage, it was this. It was them. It was Yixing, bright and brave and, deep down inside, still the nervous boy newly arrived from Beijing who wanted so badly to do right.

They had done so much right. They had _redefined_ right in a lot of ways. They were still pushing boundaries - first Co-Artistic Directors of the Seattle Ballet, first Asian Americans in the role, Yixing the youngest to fill it in over fifty years - and there were many more yet to be tested. There was no greater pride than being by Yixing’s side through it all.

“You keep kissing me like this, you’re gonna run outta time for that phone call.”

With a wrinkle of his nose, Baekhyun let him go. “There’s just not enough hours in the day.”

“Plenty of hours for kissing after work.” As if to prove it, Yixing lifted Baekhyun’s hand and pecked a kiss to the back of every single knuckle, then released him with a wink as they rounded the corner. Pulling the front door open, he stepped back to hold it for a group of their summer students, who passed with cheerful waves and bright hellos. 

“Oh, Yixing!” One of the boys - the youngest of the interstate students, fresh out of ballet school in California and clearly still pinching himself at being here - stopped and turned to him, duffel bag swinging from one shoulder. “I was listening to one of the pieces you were playing the other day and I had an idea for a _pas de deux_ , maybe? But I’m not great at imagining the girl’s part. If you’re not super busy later, could I maybe show you what I have so far?” One nervous hand pushed the curls out of his face, but they just flopped right back.

“Mm, course.” Yixing nodded a greeting to a couple of the junior soloists as they passed, then turned back to the boy with a smile. “Speaking of _pas de deux_ , I got something I want you dancing. You got time to stay after class?”

“Y-yeah!” His eyes went wide, his whole face flushing an even deeper shade of copper. If the kid had been walking, Baekhyun was certain he would have tripped. “Sure! Wow, that sounds great. I’ll, um-” and then he took a step through the door and he _did_ trip, stumbling over the threshold and catching himself on the arched marble. “Thanks, I’ll- uh- class!”

They paused inside the door to let him escape; Baekhyun hooked his chin over Yixing’s shoulder and watched him scurry off down the corridor, corkscrew coils bouncing around his neck.

“You read my mind,” he murmured.

Yixing snorted. “As if anyone else gonna be more perfect for a gay _pas de deux_.”

“Hey,” Baekhyun protested, “just because it’s two men doesn’t mean it’s gay.”

“No, it’s gay cause you got your hands on the choreo, honey.”

Baekhyun laughed into a sip of his latte. “God, you’re so right.”

Yixing shook his head and turned to lead the way to their office. “Am I ever wrong?”

“No, love,” Baekhyun smiled at his back, irrepressibly fond. “Never.”

And maybe it was only the coffee - but just for a moment, with Yixing ahead of him and a lifetime of this art beyond, it was as if they’d brought the sun inside with them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for all the love you've shown this story in its various installments. I still go back and re-read the comments on Everything We Are when I need motivation or warm fuzzies. Y'all are a gift and I am so fortunate to have you as my readers.


End file.
